Outpatients move out; Ashley moves in

AMY MOORE and BETH RANKIN

Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Ground behind The Medical Center of Southeast Texas will be broken this week to make way for a new outpatient surgery center.

The 6,661-square-foot addition to Mid-County's newest hospital will allow patients easier access to the outpatient surgery area with dedicated registration and waiting areas, according to information from the hospital.

"The addition of the outpatient surgery area is proof of The Medical Center's commitment to providing high-quality care to the community," said Michael Landry, the hospital's chief executive officer.

Dedicated pre-and postoperative areas and a standalone sterile processing area will improve efficiency in moving patients through the outpatient surgery process. Staff will see the improvements with more spacious locker rooms, according to the hospital.

Construction should be complete by next December. The 224-bed hospital in Port Arthur is part of IASIS Healthcare LLC.

BEAUMONT

Tom Beall's success with his Ashley Furniture Home-Stores in Jasper and Hemphill encouraged him to open another in Southeast Texas.

Construction and remodeling work is ongoing in a corner of Parkdale Mall formerly occupied by Linens N Things. The store is slated to open in mid-January.

"We took in part of the storage area to be showroom and it will be completely different inside with the extensive remodel,"Beall said.

The construction work on the space in the mall began in October, but the plan for the store began more than a year ago, he said. Beall said though it's unusual for malls to have furniture stores, he liked the Parkdale location because of the other furniture stores on the Dowlen Road strip.

"Hopefully we'll get a lot of traffic," he said.

Beall said the HomeStore will boast different prices than other Ashley Furniture stores, as well as exclusive distribution of HomeStore products.

"We'll have a lot of house accessories, bedding and a complete range of furniture," he said. "There's also a customer service benefit. Home-Stores are good for customers and good for owners. It's a very good business model."

The original plan was to open the store before the holiday shopping season, but delays kept that from happening. Now Beall said he hopes shoppers will have recovered from the holiday rush and will be ready to buy furniture in the new year.

"We're excited to bring the service and the value to Southeast Texas because we're going to have some unique deals," he said.